The skill needed to fly them? (8)
I believe the answer is:
aircraft
'the' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'skill needed to fly them?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'skill' could be 'craft' (craft is a kind of skill) and 'craft' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'air' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aircraft that I've seen before include "Airbus A330 or A380, say" , "flyers" , "High-flier" , "I cart RAF? (Anag)" , "Airbus A330 or 380, say" .)